Gov't to boost night tours to revive tourism industry
Tourists enjoy a nighttime music concert in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province. The city runs its night tour program dubbed “Night of Jeonju and Heritage Story.” / Courtesy of Korea Tourism Organization
By Jun Ji-hye
The Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) is planning to promote night tour programs in cooperation with local governments in a bid to attract more foreign tourists and revive the flagging tourism industry, officials said Friday.
Tourism is one of the sectors that has been hit hardest by COVID-19 outbreak as an increasing number of people have canceled their vacation plans due to fears of contracting coronavirus.
A number of nations and territories have also imposed entry bans on foreigners from virus-affected countries or stricter quarantine procedures at airports, leaving more people reluctant to go overseas.
The KTO said it will push to promote the nation's night tours this year to help the tourism industry recover at the earliest possible date, once the pandemic comes to an end.
The organization said Korea has a good environment for developing night tours as it is known for its safe streets and 24-hour stores available nationwide.
Fostering night tours will contribute to increasing consumption and creating more jobs, it said.
In mid-February, the KTO began researching the night tour content of each region, with an aim of choosing and announcing 100 recommended programs on April 20.
The KTO plans to produce a night tour directory in Korean in mid-April by utilizing data provided by SK Telecom's driving navigation platform T map.
The organization will also host a night tour international forum and run night tour-themed Travel Week programs in June.
For foreign tourists, promotional materials in English, Chinese and Japanese will be produced and distributed.
The schedule dates and times can be changed in accordance with situations involving COVID-19, the KTO added.
Visitors look around Seoul's Bamdokkaebi night market situated along the Han River. / Courtesy of Korea Tourism Organization
Governments and municipalities in other countries have already moved fast to nurture their night tour programs, which tempt tourists to stay for longer at tourist spots, expecting a great economic ripple effect.
The Japan Tourism Agency is investing 1 billion yen ($9.4 million) to cultivate the country's night tour industry, beginning this year.
According to a report issued by New York City in 2019, it has achieved economic effect worth $19 billion and created jobs for 190,000 people through the night tour programs.
“Our analysis shows that night tours have increased the number of days foreign tourists stay here to 7.9 days from 7.2 days,” said Jeong Ran-soo, a professor of the department of tourism at Hanyang University in Seoul. “Night tours exert great influence in vitalizing the accommodation businesses of the regional economy.”
The KTO noted that night tours are also expected to contribute to reducing crime at night as many people gather to participate in the tour programs.
“There have been many attractive night tour programs here such as nighttime tours of ancient palaces and night markets,” said KTO official Ha Sang-seok. “We will discover more content and consider ways of ensuring the safety of tourists in cooperation with local governments and relevant companies so the nation's night tour business can be carried out.”
Air carriers and travel agencies here have suffered financial difficulties since last year amid the spread of the new coronavirus in addition to lower demand for travel on Japanese routes.
In July last year, Japan began to impose restrictions on exports of key industrial materials to Korea, triggering an anti-Japan boycott here, under which many Koreans have opted not to travel to the neighboring country.
Industry officials noted that some small travel agencies are expected to file for bankruptcy as increasing cancellations in addition to few new reservations are driving them into a wall as they are struggling to refund deposits paid by customers as well as pay office rent and staff wages.
Amid falling travel demand and financial difficulties, the companies have been scrambling to reduce expenses, asking their employees to take unpaid leave.